Friday, August 31, 2012

Hey, we were just talking about explosive mod-punk band who were lost in the shadow of The Jam (and The Who) - see HERE - which has to be our cue to finally discuss The Chords.

This out-of-print album, No One Is Listening Anymore, was recorded at The Rainbow in 1980 but not released until 1986, when the title had become unjustly accurate. The Chords had indeed stopped playing due to a lack of listening, which was a shame. The much-maligned Mod Revival did incite a lot of sound-alike bands (and we here at MRML love almost everyone of them) but The Chords were not mere trend-chasers. Like the members of The Jam they attempted to squeeze the sounds of London '66 though the filter of London '77. While The Chords could not match Paul Weller song-for song (who could?), they could craft supple, melodic songs like "Maybe Tomorrow", "The British Way of Life" and "Tumbling Down" and then play the hell out of them (just check out Buddy Ascot's lunatic drumming!)

While the band was drastically undervalued, critically and commercially, in its time, time has been a bit fairer. The band now have at least two compilations in print and are still playing live. Of course, it's still a damn shame that they never got to make a second album...

Tracklist
1 Something's Missing
2 Happy Families
3 It's No Use
4 Now It's Gone
5 I'm Not Sure
6 The British Way Of Life
7 So Far Away
8 I'll Keep Holding On
9 Tumbling Down
10 Maybe Tomorrow
11 Breaks My Heart / This Is What They Want

Thursday, August 30, 2012

So readers, which ever side of the political spectrum you inhabit, whose the best writer covering the American election?

While Andrew Sullivan gets my vote as the aggregator-in-chief, Charles P. Pierce is scorching the American political landscape like Hunter S. Thompson armed with white phosphorous. Of this week's Republican convention and its War on Truth, he says,

"The Republicans simply don't care.

They don't care that they lie. They don't care that their lies are obvious. They don't care that their lies wouldn't fool an underpaid substitute Social Studies teacher in a public middle school, who would then probably go out one night and get yelled at by Chris Christie. ("They believe in teacher's unions. We believe in teachers," he said in his speech. Yeah, you just don't believe in paying them.) They don't care that their history is a lie and that, by spreading it, they devalue the actual history of the country, which is something that belongs to us."

In which a bunch of long-in-the-tooth punk survivors from Lancaster, Pennsylvania form a new band who lead off with a psychotronic-pop song that sounds like a cross between The Ramones and The Presidents of The United States of America, or maybe The Dickies meets The Cramps, or maybe Horace Pinker meets The Television Personalities - whee - this game is fun. Try your own mash-up of bands in THE COMMENTS SECTION! (via)

Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Rips n' scans donated by the amazing Bristolboy from the world-rocking blog, My Life's A Jigsaw.

Yesterday, we asked whatbecomes the brother of a legend? If you're Who man Pete Townsend's little brother, Simon Townsend you just have to carve out your identity chip-by-chip. While Simon T.
had done some solo singles in the mid-seventies, he earned his first
break in 1980, with his explosive mod-punk trio, On The Air (more HERE). While you
can hear Pete's influence in these songs, especially in Simon's
effective use of keyboards, the shadow of Paul Weller's own explosive
mod-punk trio, The Jam, looms pretty large. Of course, this is a curious
thing, as everyone knows that Pete Townsend was a huge influence on Jam
leader Paul Weller.

This next single "Another Planet B/W "Typically English (Live)" and "Jimmy (Live)" shows the band Townsend plus Mark Brzezicki on drums and Tony Butler on bass, who'd go onto massive success as one-half of Big Country) still going at their mod-punk sound full-throttle.

Tuesday, August 28, 2012

Rips n' scans donated by the amazing Bristolboy from the world-rocking blog, My Life's A Jigsaw.

What becomes the brother of a legend? If you're Who man Pete Townsend's little brother, Simon Townsend, you just have to carve out your own identity chip-by-chip. While Simon T. had done some solo singles in the mid-seventies, he earned a high-profile break in 1980 when his explosive mod-punk trio, On The Air signed to Warner. While you can hear Pete's influence in these songs, especially in Simon's
effective use of keyboards, the shadow of Paul Weller's own explosive
mod-punk trio, The Jam, looms pretty large. Of course, this is a curious
thing, as everyone knows that Pete Townsend was a huge influence on Jam leader Paul Weller.

The band''s first single, "Ready For Action" b/w "Crazy for Youth" finds the band honing a sound that's part early seventies Who, part late seventies Jam but also a large part Simon T.'s own skill in song-writng and band-leading. The deadly rhythm section he's leading into action here is one other than Mark Brzezicki on drums and Tony Butler on bass, who'd go onto massive success as one-half of Big Country. These two songs are, and this never ceases to amaze me, NOT on the CD their label, Track Records, called Ready For Action. Yeah that's right despite the single's artwork being the cover and the A-Side being it's title - they left both tracks off! W.T.F.?

Hey let us know what you think of On The Air and whether or not you want to hear more in the COMMENTS section!

Monday, August 27, 2012

A HUGE batch of Helen Love singles (rips n' scans) were donated by the amazing Bristolboy from the world-rocking blog, My Life's A Jigsaw.

Helen Love's (more HERE) career has carried on as it began; twee, obsessive and hooky-as-hell! Here's another early single, that held the attention of Joey Ramone (I'm sure he dug her tribute single too) long enough for him to come along and duet with Ms. Love on a later version of the song (included here).

Sunday, August 26, 2012

Programming Note: While these "whad'ya buy?" posts (more HERE) will not be done EVERY week, I have really appreciated your feedback. So, please continue to tell us what music YOU paid for recently in the comments section!

Graham Parker (more HERE): Squeezing out Sparks (w/ Live Sparks) Arista, re-issue, 1996 - $9.99 at The Folk Festival Music Store. The Parker back catalog is a MESS but I was ready to replace my bonus-free version with this at that price (though unfortunately it skips on track 20!)

The Capitalist Kids (more HERE): Too Big To Fail, Grackle Records, 2010 - $13.99 at War On Music. Sixrteen shining minutes! If you crossed The Onion with the Lookout Records catalog circa 1993, you'd not only be a lucky bastard and you'd also get The Capitalist Kids.

Raging Slab - S/T free and still too expensive (it is as bad as I thought it would be when the ads for it were ubiquitous).

N/V

The B-52's: Time Capsule, Reprise, 1996 - $1.99 at my local thrift store. A fine new wave band and I like the singles a lot (plus it's a great 'glove box album' which you'll know what I mean if you have a wife, kids and a car!)

The Clash: (more HERE) The Singles, Sony, 1991 - $1.99 at my local thrift store. Yup my Clashophillia has gotten so bad that for a buck or two I'm willing to buy things just to fill out the collection. Sad.

Photo of the Week:
Someone defaced the ever-present Big Sister-like picture of Shelly Glover, my local Conservative Party Member of Parliament, in a most curious way.

So, please tell us what music you've bought recently in the COMMENTS section (and fell free to leave a link, if you're so inclined).

"The Internationalists are a very young band firmly rooted in two traditions: that of a polemical music as old as socialism and that of the use of genuinely popular forms to express experiences of oppression, which is as old as folk music. In both respects they fall easily into the Matchless catalogue.

The primary thrust of their music derives from reggae, the quintessential late twentieth century form for the articulation of oppression and the articulation of solutions and calls to action. In the political use of what is rapidly becoming a universal form they have drawn on Bob Marley, Bunny Wailer, Misty, Aswad, The Zephaniah Band and U.B.40. Drawn on, but not imitated, for, although their instrumentation and musical phrasing echo the best of The Wailers at times and approach the rich textures of U.B.40 at others, the vocal delivery is uniquely post-Punk in anger, accent and attack. It is the voice of de-industrialized unemployed youth raised both against the conditions created by, and for, a realigning capitalism and in support of third world liberation movements fighting to establish alternatives. In this respect these Harlow based "leidermacher" stand alongside Dammers, Weller and Bragg.

The naked unambiguity of their position strikes many an historical resonance. Three examples: the didacticism of Brecht ("Tighten Up" might well have been dedicated to 'The Active Discontented' of our own time), the anthem making of Florence Rees ("Solidarity" and her 'Which Side Are You On?' share an underscoring of the need to continually affirm intra-class alliances) and the anger of the Sixties protest movements (Phil Ochs would have recognized the disgust animating "Kicking On the Wrong Door!").

Unlike many in the latter category however (locked into and finally lost on the college-based folk circuit as they were), The Internationalists have approached and won a wide and growing audience at the sharp end of created disadvantage which recognizes its own experience in their politics and music.

As you will hear, reggae is not the only form that these young musicians have adopted and adapted to the cause of distributive justice. The rock tracks included here carry the politics with equal facility as well as bearing witness to the skills and versatility of this committed young band which, in achieving a strong beginning, promises much for the future."

Friday, August 24, 2012

Ta-Nehisi Coates over at The Atlantic has written a thoughtful, thorough brilliantly-written meditation on race and the Obama presidency, which you can read in its entirety here. It's not loaded with hyperbole or name-calling just historical-minded analysis. I would love to read some thoughtful responses to Coates' ideas but am wary of flame-war types (do a Google images search for 'Fear of a Black President' if you want to know how low American discourse on race and politics can go), so trolls who merely want to attack the messenger but ignore the message be warned!

Thursday, August 23, 2012

Holy Hell!
After finding a three CD's of live tracks, B-sides, promo-only songs, collaborations, duets, tribute album and compilation appearances by Steve Earle (more HERE), we learn that there is a fourth and final (this far) installment!. Thanks to MRML readers for either leaving comments on this, our most country of series, or those who just politely endured it while waiting for the nest thing to come along.

WARNINGWhile this is obviously a fan-made bootleg, Steve Earle's E-Squared Records has released an incredibly brief 13 song rarities CD called Sidetracks, so therefore the one overlapping track here has been deleted without apology. (By the way, Sidetracks, despite it's shocking brevity, is a critical release for all Earle fans, which is not always the case with such collections.)

Wednesday, August 22, 2012

A HUGE batch of Helen Love singles (rips n' scans) were donated by the amazing Bristolboy from the world-rocking blog, My Life's A Jigsaw.

Helen Love's fusion of bubblegum, punk, disco with the whole c86 fast, cute n' cheap aesthetic is by turns obsessive, twee and utterly wonderful. Her love of the Ramones (and Joey in particular) comes across in her brash tempos and her sticky chorsues but the funhouse sound she creates is strictly one-of-a-kind.

This single, "Joey Ramoney" b/w/ "Your Biggest Fan", is one of Love's earliest releases and establishes the mad depths of her fandom (her lyrics read like letters to Creem Magazine circa 1979) but also demonstrates her capacity for breeding more virulent earworms than Khan Noonien Singh.

Kurt Baker's lyrics can be pretty dopey but that hasn't slowed his ascent into the heights of the power-pop-o-sphere one bit! Definitive proof is offered in the man's new single "Want You Around" (ft. Dan Vapid and Rev. Norb), which may be the most infectious pop tune the man has written yet, Go, Kurt go!

So while The Lilligtons (more HERE) were on hiatus and before he hopped onto the Teenage Bottlerocket to Russia (more HERE), Wyomingite Kody Templeman formed a one-off party-punk-rock band called, Sack back in 2003.

While the steadfastly pop-punk Lillington's switched topics from high school politics to old movies, Sack just wanted to get drunk. As the lamentably short-lived Pop Songs and Anarchy put it "All twelve songs are like the soundtrack to the greatest teen movie never made; simple, stupid and drunken (I cannot stress the drunkenness enough)." Check out the song titiles if you think either one of us is exaggerating. (Also see HERE for the Teenage Bottlerocket re-recording of Sack's "Headbanger")

Monday, August 20, 2012

Holy Hell!
Three CD's of live tracks, B-sides, promo-only songs, collaborations, duets, tribute album and compilation appearances by Steve Earle (more HERE). I listened to the whole thing yesterday and simply marveled at the sheer level of quality represented here. While there is an excess of versions of "Copperhead Road" here, the riches amongst these fifty-seven tracks are hard to ennumerate; the chilling, quiet version of "Ellis Unit One", the Supersucker-powered "Before They Make Me Run", the covers of Bruce Springsteen (twice!), The Rolling Stones, Jimmie Rodgers, Gram Parsons, Buddy Holly, Townes Van Zandt and...and... this thing is just fuckin' packed! Clearly, Earle needs to make his own Tracks-like rarities box set so that you can ditch this temporary placeholder and get your mitts on the real thing!

God, if you don't think this deserves a word of thanks - your conscience has shut down!

WARNINGWhile this is obviously a fan-made bootleg, Steve Earle's E-Squared Records has released an incredibly brief 13 song rarities CD called Sidetracks, so therefore all seven overlapping tracks have been deleted without apology. (By the way, Sidetracks, despite it's shocking brevity, is a critical release for all Earle fans, which is not always the case with such collections.)

The Vapid album is stellar set of pop-punk tunes and should be bought by all Weasel fans toute suite. The Baker EP is fantastic musically but I'm more hesitant to recommend because it's expensive, weakly-packaged (cardboard sleeve, no insert!) and it UNFAIRLY leaves off two songs from the ten inch version. Redd Kross' new album is blood-stirring and destined to hit a slew of Best of 2012 lists. As for Mondo Bizaaro, the imperfections are glaring. It starts with a weak, dated Joey political tract, follows it with the weaker of the TWO songs from the pen of drummer Marky Ramone but, fortunately, the album then hits a real strong patch in the middle, leaving at least eight very good songs to make up for the filler at the beginning and near the end.

Okay, I took Commando, I took from the library because it's reeeeeal short (and Johnny Ramone's rah-rah Republicanism irritates me - BUT I WON'T COMPLAIN ABOUT HIS FREE SPEECH, ESPECIALLY SINCE I'M NOT PAYING FOR IT!

Saturday, August 18, 2012

Damn do I have mixed feelings about Tom Waits. I love the weird raspiness, the fierce noncommercialty, the twisted poetry and, when the mood strikes him, those haunting tunes. Of course, Waits commitment to his art includes a a lot of blurpy jazz, New Yorky art and megaphoney tunelessness, which can alienate a song-based person like myself. Of course, all of that is what makes Tom Tom and I'm not dissing the man, whom I admire greatly.

Wait's new video "Hell Broke Luce" (all the context you could need is compiled here), contains almost everything mentioned above and a bunch of other weird-ass elements to make a chilling audio and video statement on the waste of war.

Friday, August 17, 2012

It seems a shame that it not only took one of America's greatest bands, The Ramones (more HERE), twenty years to tackle a track from one of America's greatest singer-songwriters, Bob Dylan, but that when they finally did tackle a Dylan tune then-new bassist CJ Ramone took over vocal duties from main man, Joey Ramone. CJ's vocals do give their version an even-greater rawness than Joey's fractured croon would have but Joey, as his cover of "What A Wonderful World" would soon prove, had the better chops and phrasing to wrestle with the mighty lyrics Dylan provided.

So what we have here is a short, solid session The Ramones did in the MTV studios in 1994 that contains two classics ("I Wanna Be Sedated" and "Rockaway Beach") with one of the stronger tracks from Mondo Biazarro ("Strength To Endure") and a preview of Acid Eaters in the form of the aforementioned cover of Dylan's "My Back Pages" (which I'm guessing da bruddas learned from The Byrds).

Paul Ryan's love of Rage Against the Machine is amusing, because he is the embodiment of the machine that our music has been raging against for two decades. Charles Manson loved the Beatles but didn't understand them. Governor Chris Christie loves Bruce Springsteen but doesn't understand him. And Paul Ryan is clueless about his favorite band, Rage Against the Machine.

Ryan claims that he likes Rage's sound, but not the lyrics. Well, I don't care for Paul Ryan's sound or his lyrics.

It's amazing that a band with this much raw potential would risk it
all, by playing up the masked stalker angle so heavily ("Every single
day is lonelier than the last/I cried so much I had to wring out my
mask" they sing in "Unrequited Love"). So, while the shtick does limit the
resonance of the oft-clever lyrics, the band's killer sense of melody and controlled arrangements prevail - just listen to "Heart-Shaped Guitar" for proof.

Wednesday, August 15, 2012

It's awesome to read the YouTube comments on the song "Steve Earle", they're either gushing praise for Nash-pop duo Sugarland (about whom I know little) or tearing into the song like starving, angry hyenas. I can't say I sympathize with either side. I'm a big fan of Steve Earle (more HERE), as are all the haters, but I can appreciate the song's sharp hook, its talking-blues verses and its slapstick lyrics that chide Nashville for ignoring Earle. Now, I'm not denying that Sugarland's song is a fluffy, lightweight concoction that won't likely stand the test of time like Earle's work but it's still a bit of fun.

Update II: Of course, the source for that above quote is from a source called 'Farce the Music" under a heading of 'fake news' (all written in small font I'll point out before admitting that I really should've caught the parody earlier!)

Here's a collection of early eighties rockabilly-styled material Steve Earle (more HERE) recorded for Epic Records, which the label only released after Earle's success with Guitar Town. The songs were recorded between 1982 and 1985; and includes all the tracks from from 1982's Pink and Black EP. It's a fun collection, which shows Earle the song-writer chafing at the inherent limits of the genre he's been placed into. That said, we get to here an early version of one's Earle's most vivid story-songs, "The Devil's Right Hand".

Tracklist
1 Nothin' But You
2 If You Need A Fool
3 Continental Trailway Blues
4 Open Up Your Door
5 Breakdown Lane
6 Squeeze Me In
7 Annie, Is Tonight The Night
8 My Baby Worships Me
9 Cadillac
10 Devil's Right Hand
11 What'll You Do About Me?
12 Cry Myself To Sleep
13 A Little Bit In Love
14 The Crush
(The last four tracks are from Epic singles by the 1997 CD reissue from Koch)

Tuesday, August 14, 2012

Favourite Earle album? It's a tough call really but for the moment let's argue that the top three are:

1. Guitar Town - For consistency of song and for that combination of Earle's acoustic guitar and Richard Bennet's twangy electric guitar is just devastating.
2. Copperhead Road - While the title track is the greatest thing he's ever done, I'd argue it's the tiniest bit less even song-wise than GT.
3. I Feel Alright - The real comeback album (Train-a-Comin' was just a warm-up), which expertly puts all of Earle's talents into play.

I admit to fleeting knowledge of the man's later work, so I look forward to hearing your own top three Earle's in the COMMENTS section.

As in tribute to the classic Guitar Town, here, courtesy of ousterhout, is a ringing live show from 1987 where Earle and co. play the entire album

Monday, August 13, 2012

Here's a set of very old set of Steve Earle (more HERE) demos, predating his signing to Epic Records as a rockabilly singer in the early eighties. After watching scene below, where Earle plays "The Mercenary Song" in the company of Guy Clark and Townes Van Zandt, it's worth remembering that Music Row's merchants of swill would take another DECADE to get him a proper recording contract!

01 Mustang Wine
02 Juanita
03 We're From Texas
04 Old Friends
05 Songs About Mexico
06 Honey On They Highway
07 The Mercenary Song
08 Darling Commit Me
09 I've Never Really Been In Love Before
10 Ben McCulloch
11 Daddy and Me Played Swing
12 A Country Song
13 We Look Back
14 Usual Time
15 If She Only Knew
16 A Far Cry From You
17 Drive Me Crazy
18 Blues Got the best of Me
19 Halfway Home
20 I Can't Help It
21 I'm a Lover
22 I Love You Too Much
23 Hurtin Me, Hurtin You
24 Angel is The Devil

Let us know what you think of these extra early Earle tracks in the COMMENTS section!More to come...?

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